Spirit Collection: Hippocrates

About this artwork

While doing research at Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow, Borland discovered that in the hospital grounds was a plane tree grown from a sapling of a tree, underneath which Hippocrates, the founding father of medicine, had taught in the fifth century B.C.. The artist was intrigued by this link with the past, which fitted in with her research into the importance of the family tree in determining medical conditions. Inspired by a Victorian spirit collection of botanical material preserved in alcohol, Borland preserved 100 leaves from the plane tree in individual glass containers. The leaves were bleached so only their beautiful and fragile skeleton-like structures remain.

Christine Borland

Christine Borland

Borland was born in Darvel, Ayrshire and studied at Glasgow School of Art and the University of Ulster, Belfast. Her work has often involved collaboration with non-art related institutions, exploring areas such as forensic science, the history of medicine, medical ethics and human genetics. Borland frequently asks us to consider…